Clooney honored for humanitarian work

NEW YORK — Director Steven Spielberg is marking the 20th year of his humanitarian foundation by honoring the humanitarian work of a Hollywood friend and colleague: George Clooney.

At a glittery gala at New York’s Museum of Natural History Thursday, Spielberg presented Clooney with the Ambassador for Humanity award from his USC Shoah Foundation. Also on hand to praise Clooney’s work, much of it in the Darfur region of Sudan, was his current co-star Sandra Bullock, and Jon Stewart.

Clooney in turn praised Spielberg for his foundation’s work in collecting and preserving video testimonies of Holocaust victims for future generations.

The gala marked the 20th anniversary of Spielberg’s Holocaust movie “Schindler’s List,” a film that won the director an Oscar and, Spielberg says, gave him the idea to start a foundation.

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LONDON — Irish chanteuse Sinead O’Connor has waded into the Miley Cyrus controversy, warning the young singer to avoid being sexually exploited by the music industry.

O’Connor posted an open letter to Cyrus on Thursday after Cyrus told journalists she had modeled her “Wrecking Ball” video on O’Connor’s famous “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

She warns the former “Hannah Montana” star that it would be self-defeating to market her sexuality.

“I am extremely concerned for you that those around you have led you to believe, or encouraged you in your own belief, that it is in any way ‘cool’ to be naked and licking sledgehammers in your videos,” O’Connor writes in reference to the sexually charged “Wrecking Ball” video.

She also cautions Cyrus, 20, that the music business will exploit her and then abandon her.

In a reference to troubled actress Amanda Bynes, who has been treated in a psychiatric hospital in California, Cyrus tweeted: “Before Amanda Bynes ... There was ...” and posted O’Connor’s own tweets about seeking psychiatric help.

WASHINGTON — Law enforcement authorities were investigating why a Connecticut woman tried to breach a barrier at the White House, setting off a high-speed car chase that put the Capitol on lockdown and ended with her being shot dead by police.

The harrowing chase Thursday unfolded between two national landmarks, briefly shuttered the chambers where federal lawmakers were debating how to end